Shapeways 144

Friday, August 23, 2013

1/144 German Super Heavy Tank "Maus II" Ausf B Turret - by CGD
CGD has two great announcements today, 1) the release of the MAUS II Panzer 46 model, and 2) the introduction of the ABS-L printing material.

"Maus" - The Super Heavy Tank "Maus" project began with a meeting between Hitler, Speer and Porsche in June 1942. Two prototypes were built but unconfirmed sources claimed that there might be five prototypes built before the war ended. The surviving exhibit in Kubinka Museum has the hull of the first prototype and turret form the second prototype.
Battle Ready Treatment - Since the Maus was still in prototype stage before the war ended, this model was designed with enhancements to reflect what the tank would look if it went into mass production.

As Hitler criticized the prototype Porsche turret mounting the 128mm gun as a toy, and insisted on a heavier 150mm or even 175mm gun, the turret was replaced with a Tiger II styled turret with Infa-rot device for the commander. This turret design eliminated the "shot trap" present in the Porsche Maus design.

A MG 34 was installed in hull front to be operated by the radio operator for close quarter defense. Spare tracks were strategically placed on the side next to the two internal fuel tanks as additional armour.

The 1000L fuel tank on the first prototype was intended for a flamethrower as secondary weapon insisted by the Wehrmacht. The request was cancelled soon afterward. A rack for jerry cans and tool boxes for maintenance were installed instead.

1. What is ABS-L?
ABS-L is an acrylic resin used for 3D printing. It is NOT brittle as regular acrylic material. It is strong and tough when properly structured, and flexible when thin. But it still will break if bended too much.

The material is printed in a resolution of approximately 250dpi, or 0.1mm thick layers, to give a smooth model with sharp details. Sometimes layering effect appears on sloped areas of the model which is a characteristic of 3D printing.This material can be cut, sand, filed easily. It accepts regular model paints readily and can be glued with instant glue/super glue/Cyanoacrylate glue.

2. How does the ABS-L material compare to the nylon material previously used?
ABS-L has a smoother surface after painting and the details are sharper than the nylon supplied by Shapeways printing process

3. Other benefits?
The new printing printing process and quality assurance is undertaken within CGD workshops and all items are checked repeatedly throughout the manufacturing process.

For more info and images, including a painting guide - please see the CGD ABS-L info page (here)

1/144 German Super Heavy Tank "Maus II" with Krupp Turret - by CGD
CGD has two great announcements today, 1) the release of the MAUS II Panzer 46 model, and 2) the introduction of the ABS-L printing material.

"Maus" - The Super Heavy Tank "Maus" project began with a meeting between Hitler, Speer and Porsche in June 1942. Two prototypes were built but unconfirmed sources claimed that there might be five prototypes built before the war ended. The surviving exhibit in Kubinka Museum has the hull of the first prototype and turret form the second prototype.

Battle Ready Treatment - Since the Maus was still in prototype stage before the war ended, this model was designed with enhancements to reflect what the tank would look if it went into mass production.

The turret was replaced with a turret proposed by Krupp with an 128mm KwK main gun and a secondary 75mm KwK gun. This turret design eliminated the "shot trap" present in the Porsche Maus design.

A MG 34 was installed in hull front to be operated by the radio operator for close quarter defense. Spare tracks were strategically placed on the side next to the two internal fuel tanks as additional armour.

The 1000L fuel tank on the first prototype was intended for a flamethrower as secondary weapon insisted by the Wehrmacht. The request was cancelled soon afterward. A rack for jerry cans and tool boxes for maintenance were installed instead.

1. What is ABS-L?
ABS-L is an acrylic resin used for 3D printing. It is NOT brittle as regular acrylic material. It is strong and tough when properly structured, and flexible when thin. But it still will break if bended too much.

The material is printed in a resolution of approximately 250dpi, or 0.1mm thick layers, to give a smooth model with sharp details. Sometimes layering effect appears on sloped areas of the model which is a characteristic of 3D printing.This material can be cut, sand, filed easily. It accepts regular model paints readily and can be glued with instant glue/super glue/Cyanoacrylate glue.

2. How does the ABS-L material compare to the nylon material previously used?
ABS-L has a smoother surface after painting and the details are sharper than the nylon supplied by Shapeways printing process

3. Other benefits?
The new printing printing process and quality assurance is undertaken within CGD workshops and all items are checked repeatedly throughout the manufacturing process.

For more info and images, including a painting guide - please see the CGD ABS-L info page (here)

Sunday, August 18, 2013

DAMEYA has placed one of his more unusual designs onto his Shapeways Store and you can be pretty confident that it is a first in 1/144. You might think this is a steampunk style "what if", but it was actually a reality - proving truth is stranger than fiction!

The first id the Russian Lebedenko Tank (aka "Tsar Tank") which is an unusual and as history would demonstrate largely unsuccessful. Conceived to be able to traverse all terrains, in trials it proves unwieldy and vulnerable to enemy artillery fire!

The P40 was an Italian World War II tank design. It was armed with a 75 mm gun and an 8 mm Breda machine gun, plus another optional machine gun in an anti-aircraft mount. The official Italian designation was Carro Armato ("armored tank") P 26/40. Design had started in 1940 but very few had been built by the time Italy signed the armistice with the Allies in September 1943 and the 100 or so produced afterwards were used by the Germans, under the designation Panzerkampfwagen P40 737(i), and some are reported to be even used as pill boxes (due to a lack of engines) at Anzio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carro_Armato_P_40

PS: I Forgot to mention that this tank also features in the 'Girls und Panzer' anime series...! ;-)

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

1/144 Eduard Spitfire Mk IXe (Modelled by Vaclav Slunicko)
Every now and then comes a kit that makes you look and look again...

Today, I think we have found another of those gems, this amazing rendition of the Eduard Spitfire MK.IXe comes packed with a host of customisations and scratchbuild that makes you wonder why you pick up those boxes and open the lids to imagine what you can do with it today...

Clearly Vaclav has done a great job on this and the only complaint I have is that his build thread is not longer and packed with more information and photos of the build! :-)